Buffalo stampede
Ryan’s ‘D’ hands Pats goose egg
FOXBORO — That was more than an above-average victory for Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills.
After a week of chatter about Ryan’s coaching acumen (which he’s deemed “above average”), the Bills backed up their head coach and knocked off the Patriots, 16-0 — handing Bill Belichick his first shutout loss in Foxboro.
Granted, it came against a third-string quarterback with a banged-up thumb.
Jacoby Brissett started the Patriots’ final game without suspended starter Tom Brady, who will return to Gillette Stadium Monday after serving his fourgame Deflategate penalty. Backup Jimmy Garoppolo was unavailable due to his shoulder injury, so Brissett ran the show.
“It’s satisfying. But let’s face it, they had a player out and we had our team,” Ryan said. “So we expected to win.”
True to form, things were chippy before the game even kicked off. During warmups, Bills safety Robert Blanton shoved Brissett as the two ran into each other along the Bills sideline, sparking a fiery scuffle between players and coaches on both sides. Eventually cooler heads prevailed, and Brissett said he was unfazed by the skirmish.
Between the whistles, a lack of discipline cost the Patriots on their first play from scrimmage. Brissett opened the game by finding Julian Edelman for a 90-yard play to just shy of the goal line. But Edelman was sprung by offensive pass interference, and a flag on Chris Hogan negated the play.
The penalty was a sign of things to come, as the Patriots repeatedly put their young quarterback behind the 8-ball with longyardage situations. They finished with nine penalties for 74 yards.
When asked what the Buffalo defense did to slow down the Pats’ offense, a frustrated Edelman kept things in house.
“I can tell you what we did,” the wide receiver said. “We had penalties on probably every drive. Anytime you do that, it gives a defense the ability to dial up some kind of game-planned thing.”
The Hogan penalty led to a three-and-out, and the Bills answered with the only touchdown of the game. Tyrod Taylor engineered a 12-play, 65-yard drive that ate up more than 7 minutes. It was capped by a 7-yard touchdown pass to LeSean McCoy (108 total yards from scrimmage) with 5:35 to play in the first quarter.
Taylor finished 27-of-39 passing for 246 yards, and dictated the tempo all afternoon.
Dan Carpenter hit two field goals in the first seven minutes of the second quarter (from 34 and 43 yards) to push the Bills lead to 13-0 before Brissett (17-of-27, 205 yards) finally gained a little traction on offense. He navigated double-coverage and hit Martellus Bennett for a 58-yard gain — the longest catch of the tight end’s career.
But then Brissett’s youth showed up. On third-and-11 from the Bills’ 18, the rookie tried to scramble for a first down. He was popped by Bills linebacker Zach Brown (18 tackles) and the ball popped free for Bills linebacker Preston Brown to recover.
“I just fumbled; there’s no excuse for it,” Brissett said. “Especially in that situation in the red zone. Already got points, so I’ve got to protect the game better.”
It was the only turnover of the game, although the Pats put the pigskin on the ground five times.
The first half featured uberconservative play calling from offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Brissett threw three passes in the first two quarters, and the Pats ran the ball 13 times for 37 yards. They didn’t convert a third down in the first half, and had two first downs.
Things didn’t get much better after the intermission. The Patriots finished 1-of-12 on third down.
Stephen Gostkowski had a chance to get the Patriots on the board early in the third quarter, but pushed a 48-yard field goal wide right. Carpenter added a 44-yarder to his tally to put the Bills up 16-0 in the final minute of the third, and Buffalo hit cruise control from there.
“Twenty-four hours of disappointment and then we’ll move on,” defensive end Chris Long said. “And we’ve got to be ready. That’s the thing about the NFL. You’ve have to be ready to move on real fast, because if those feelings creep into the next week, you’re going to get embarrassed.”